Recording device



Oct. 8, 1935. J. LUCARELLE 2,016,505

' Q RECORDING DEVICE Original Filed April 28, 1932 '2 Sheet s-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Jbseph M Lucarell BY HIS ATTORNEYS Oct. 8, 1935. J. M. LUCARELLE RECORDING DEVICE- Original Filed April 28, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m C u V m m 6 m 9 6 W0 6 BY H 5 ATTORN EYS Patented Oct. 8, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RECORDING DEVICE Application April 28, 1932, Serial No. 607,958 Renewed June 28, 1934 4 Claims.

This invention relates to recording devices for dictating machines, phonographs and the like, and more particularly to means for mounting such recording devices to permit vertical movement thereof in order that they may accommodate themselves to any eccentricity or variation in sizedof the record-cylinder with which they are use One of the objects thereof is to provide a simple and practical pivot mounting for a phonograph recorder adapted to support said recorder for faithful recording under all conditions of use. Another object is to provide a pivot construction of the nature described which will be capable of easy adjustment. A further object is to provide means for making such adjustment while the machine is recording.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

In the present application I have shown my invention as applied to sound-recording and reproducing mechanism of the acoustic type such as is fully described in the patent to A. V. Bodine et al., No. 1,606,744; and to an electrical recorder like that shown in the patent to H. S. Worrell et al., No. 1,747,688. It should be understood that although acoustical and electrical recording involve various different factors and results, it has been found that the employment of the principle of my invention with either type results in marked advantages, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangements of parts as will be exemplified in the structures to be hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown two of the various possible embodiments of my invention:

Fig. 1 is an end View of a portion of a dictating machine taken partly in section in a transverse plane;

Fig. 2 is a plan view and section taken substantially on line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detailed view of a feature of my device taken substantially on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of an electrical recorder adapted for use with a phonograph and embodying my invention;

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

and

Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 1-! of Fig. 5.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the various views of the drawings.

The invention as applied to the recording and 5 reproducing mechanism disclosed in Figs. 1 to 4 will now be described. The said mechanism comprises a carriage It slidably mounted on a guide l l to travel over a record l2 which is rotated simultaneously with the traveling movement of 10 the carriage l0, so that the cutting stylus l3 produces a spiral groove in the surface of the record, which spiral groove constitutes a record of the sound which has been received by the acoustical device. This may be reproduced by permitting a ball-like reproducing stylus Hi to track the spiral groove made by the recorder.

The recording and reproducing styli'are mounted in a holder l5 secured to a diaphragm IS in any suitable manner. The diaphragm is mounted in a casing or pan l8 as is usual in this type of recorder. The diaphragm casing or pan I8 is provided with a sound tube [9 extending at its forward end into a housing 23 which is secured to the carriage Ill. The manner of mounting the g5 tube is such that the recording or reproducing mechanism comprising the tube, pan, diaphragm and styli, is capable of a reciprocatory movement transversely of the record l2 and is also capable of oscillating movement in a vertical plane and under certain conditions, as when reproducing, in a horizontal plane, this latter movement being necessary while reproducing in order that the reproducing stylus may properly track the record groove.

In order to accomplish this object a sliding sleeve 24 is carried Within the housing 23. This sleeve may be moved into any one of three positions adapting the machine for recording, for reproducing, or to be idle, by means of a control lever 25 rotatable upon the carriage rod H and connected with the slide 24 by means of a link 26 pivotally connected as at 21 to lever 25 and provided at its other end with a hook 28 disposed in engagement with a rear end 29 of a slot 30 formed in the upper surface of said slide 24. Slide 24 is prevented from turning by means of a conically pointed pin 3! carried in the housing 23 by means of aspring 32. This pin engages the slot 36. Mounted within the slide 24 with a small degree of clearance is a sound tube supporting sleeve 33 which is so mounted as to be capable of a slight oscillation about the vertical pivots 34 which have threaded engagement with the sleeve and Whose heads are positioned in apertures 35 formed in the slide 24 and are rotatable therein.

The sound tube I9 is mounted for vertical movement between a pair of horizontal pivots 33 and 31. The pivot 36 is threaded through the side wall of the sleeve 33 and engages a bushing or pivot socket 38 which is mounted in the side wall of the inner end of the tone tube is. A corresponding bushing 39 is seated in the end of tube l9 in the wall thereof directly opposite the bushing 38 and in a position to cooperate with the pivot 31 which threadedly engages the sleeve 33 at a point opposite the pivot 36. The axis of these pivots is parallel to the carriage rod ii and record l2. the tube wall but the bushing 39 has a loose fit therewith and is capable of moving toward and away from the pivot 31. A leaf spring 43 is secured to the side of the tube l9 by means of rivets 4|. This spring extends to the inner end of the tone tube and is apertured to receive the shank of the bushing 39 which is provided with a head portion 42 positioned between the pivot 31 and the said spring 49. With this arrangement the leaf spring at all times causes a degree of frictional pressure to exist between the pivot 31 and its bushing 39 and consequently between pivot 36 and its bushing 38. In other words, the mounting is such that the tone tube is supported between pivots, there being a predetermined degree of friction produced by the resilient pressure which exists between the pivots and their bushings. This is an important feature of applicants invention.

In the past it has been customary to mount both pivots in a supporting member as,,for instance, the sleeve 33, both pivots being adjustable toward their bushings carried by the sound tube. In all such constructions adjustments of the pivots could be made when the parts were assembled to provide substantially the right degree of pressure between the pivot bearings to permit the tone tube to move up and down as is necessary in its recording operation but without permitting looseness of the pivot bearing, which has a tendency to produce what is known in the trade as stubbing. Stubbing is believed to be due to a vertical vibration of the whole recorder about its pivot, which vibration has a frequency closely according with the natural period of vibration of the parts of the recorder involved in the vibratory movement. When the friction at the pivots is just right this undesirable vibration is to a great extent damped out so that stubbing is almost entirely eliminated. With the ordinary form of rigidly mounted pivots, it is impossible to maintain such an adjustment as to ensure good recording and absence of this stubbing effect.

This is due largely to the fact that the metals of which the pivots and their bushings and the carrying parts are made vary in their degrees of expansion with various temperature conditions, so that it is impossible to maintain rigid pivots at any predetermined degree of tightness and thus provide any uniformity of friction between the pivots and their bushings. It will be clear, however, that when one of the bushings is spring mounted, as has just been described, the reaction of the spring is such as to maintain a substantially constant pressure and hence constant friction between the pivots and their bushings under all conditions of use and for all variations of temperature to which the apparatus is likely to be submitted. The reaction of the spring may be varied by adjusting the pivot screws toward or away from each other. Pivot 36 is adjusted and locked in place by a lock nut 43 before the re- The bushing 38 may be tight in r corder assembly is inserted in the housing 23. Means is provided, however, for varying the adjustment of the pivot 31 during the operation of the machine so that the best setting for favorable recording may be made during the recording operation. To this end an aperture 44 is provided in the housing 23 exactly in line with the pivot 3'1, when the recording device has been set in recording position by moving the lever 25 to the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. In this position the recording stylus I3 is in engagement with the record-cylinder.

When it is desired to make adjustment of the pivots the record is set in motion and the operator applies to his ears the ordinary mouthpiece of the instrument. He will then hear the sound made by the stylus as it cuts a toneless record upon the record-cylinder. He may now with the aid of a screwdriver inserted through the aperture 44 gradually tighten the pivot screw 3'! L until he hears what may be termed a swishing sound. Now by slightly backing off the pivot screw 31 until the swishing sound just disappears, he will have accomplished the proper adjustment of the parts to produce the best results in recording. The pivot 31 is locked in its adjusted position by means of a lock plate 45 which may be of warped construction and held in place by means of a screw 46. When the screw 46 is tightened the lock plate .5 will bind the pivot 31 so as to hold its adjustment. The aperture 44 may be of very small diameter as it is only necessary that the pivot 31 be in a position for adjustment when the parts are in the recording position. A small plug 4'! may be employed to close the aperture 44 after the parts have been adjusted.

Referring to Figs. 5, 6 and '7, the invention is shown as applied to the recorder of an electrically operated phonograph which comprises a magnet 55 between the poles of which an armature 56 is adapted to vibrate to produce endwise movement in a rod 5'5. This rod is pivotally connected to a stylus carrier 58 pivoted at 59 upon a weight lever 60. The other end of the carrier 58 holds the recording stylus 6|, which is shown in Fig. 6 as engaging a record-cylinder B2. The Weight lever 69 is of the form more clearly shown in Fig. 5 and comprises a weight 33 mounted at its outer end. The lever is pivotally mounted between the sides of a bracket member 64 which is secured.

by means of screws 65 to a supporting member 63. A pair of pivots is employed as in the construction hereinbefore described, one pivot 6'! threadedly engaging one side of the bracket 64 and the other pivot 68 engaging the opposite side of the bracket 64. Both of these pivots are adjustable toward and away from one another and both are secured in adjustment by means of lock nuts 69. Pivot 61 takes directly into a pivot bearing 10 formed in the side of the lever 69. Pivot 68 has its bearing in a bushing member H carried by a spring 12 secured to the side of the lever 60, as by means of rivets 13. It is not thought that further description of the application of my invention to an electrical recorder is necessary, as reference to the Worrell patent hereinbefore cited may be made for a more detailed description of the construction and operation of the device. It will be understood, of course, that the spring 12 has the same function in the electrical recorder as in the acoustical recorder shown in Figs. 1 to 4 and may be adjusted in substantially the same manner. The action of the spring is substantially the same in both cases, although to a different degree. With the electrical recorder there is more tendency to produce stubbing than with the acoustical recorder, as the electrical recorder is more susceptible to vertical vibration. This is to a degree accentuated by .the greater amount of energy applied to the cutting mechanism of the electrical recorder and because of the wider frequency range covered. It has been found that the lower frequencies have the greatest tendency to throw the recorder into the vertical vibration which produces stubbing and that this usually occurs at a frequency lower than 300 cycles. In any event, the spring reaction produced at the pivots of both constructions introduces a damping resistance which tends to eliminate the vertical vibrations which are responsible for this stubbing effect, and it is further of value in preventing such looseness at the pivots as might produce a rattling of the parts having a tendency to make the recording of poor quality; and it will-be understood, too, that this damping resistance is the result of the substantially constant pressure maintained on the pivot by the spring.

It will be seen, therefore, that this invention is one well adapted to attain the ends and objects hereinbefore set forth in a practical manner, that the construction is simple and not of a nature easily to get out of order, and may be easily assembled and adjusted for use.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the above invention without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a recording and reproducing device for dictating machines, in combination, a housing, a slide movable in said housing to recording and reproducing positions, a sleeve mounted on said slide, a sound tube carrying a recording and a reproducing stylus, means for mounting said sound tube in said sleeve for movement in a vertical plane comprising a pair of adjustable pivot screws mounted in horizontal alignment in said sleeve, a bushing on said tube engaging one of said screws, a leaf spring secured to the side of said tube, and a bushing mounted in said spring and slidable in said tube in alignment with said first bushing whereby said spring is held in resilient engagement with the other of said pivot screws.

2. In a recording and reproducing device for dictating machines, in combination, a housing, a slide movable in said housing to recording and reproducing positions, a sleeve mounted on said slide, a sound tube carrying a recording and a reproducing stylus, means for mounting said sound tube in said sleeve for movement in a vertical plane comprising a pair of adjustable pivot screws mounted in horizontal alignment in said sleeve, a bushing on said tube engaging one of said screws, a leaf spring secured to the side of said tube, a bushing mounted in said spring and slidable in said tube in alignment with said first bushing whereby said spring is held in resilient engagement with the other of said pivot screws, a warped plate secured to said sleeve and having an aperture through which said other pivot screw passes, and means for causing said warped plate to bind against said screw and preserve the adjustment thereof.

3. In a recording and reproducing device for dictating machines, in combination, a housing, a slide movable in said housing to recording and reproducing positions, a sleeve mounted on said slide, a sound tube carrying a recording and a reproducing stylus, means for mounting said sound tube in said sleeve for movement in a vertical plane comprising a pair of adjustable pivot screws mounted in horizontal alignment in said sleeve, a bushing on said tube engaging one of L said screws, a leaf spring secured to the side of said tube, a bushing mounted in said spring and slidable in said tube in alignment with said first bushing whereby said spring is held in resilient engagement with the other of said pivot screws,

a warped plate secured to said sleeve and having an aperture through which said other pivot screw passes, means for causing said warped plate to bind against said screw and preserve the adjustment thereof, and an aperture in said housing through which when said slide is in recording position said last means may be manipulated and said pivot screw be adjusted to vary the reaction of said spring.

4. In a recording and reproducing device for dictating machines, in combination, a housing, a slide movable in said housing to recording and reproducing positions, a sleeve mounted on said slide, a sound-tube carrying a recording and a reproducing stylus, means for mounting said soundtube in said sleeve for movement in a vertical plane comprising a pair of adjustable pivot screws mounted in horizontal alignment in said sleeve, a socket on said tube engaging one of said screws, a leaf spring secured to the side of said tube and a second socket mounted on said spring and movable relatively to said tube in alignment with said first socket, whereby said spring is held in resilient engagement with the other of said pivot screws.

JOSEPH M. LUCARELLE. 

